Rooting eBook Reader Nook NST version 1.2.1 from Linux Desktop

Rooting Nook Simple Touch (NST) version 1.2.1 is a simple process. If you landed on this page, you want to root your Nook e-book reader in a few simple steps. I just rooted mine from a Linux desktop and I can confirm that the following steps work without any problems.

In addition to NST, you will also need a minimum of 128MB micro SD card. Any version of Linux desktop should work fine. The desktop should have a micro SD card reader (or a micro SD USB adaptor).

Backing up your Nook

Copy the image noggie.img to the micro SD card. Make sure you got the right device by typing mount command. Otherwise you could destroy your hard drive, eeh! For me the device was mmcblk0.
umount /dev/mmcblk0p1
dd if=noogie.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M
sync

Turn off the Nook by pressing the Power button until a prompt appears and confirm to Power off.

Insert the micro SD card into Nook and turn it on. You will see ‘Rooted Forever’.

Connect the Nook to the desktop with the USB cable. A new device will appear (in my case /dev/sdc) on the desktop computer and about six or so partitions will be mounted. umount them all and type in
dd if=/dev/sdc of=nook_backup.img bs=1M

Unplug the Nook from the desktop and power it off, and remove the micro SD card.

Remove the card from the desktop computer and insert into Nook. Turn the Nook on. You will see a gear with a hat on.

Use up and down buttons on the right and left of the screen to navigate. Enter “Apply update from .zip file” and then select the “choose zip from sdcard” option. Then choose “install-kernel-174-modified.zip” and install it. Then reboot the Nook, remove the micro SD card, and turn off the Nook.